Ranger Records
by kasumi18
Summary: Phay has already had to make many choices in her life. Trainer, Coordinator, or Ranger? Ranger, Mechanic, or Operator? Along the way to making these choices she also made friends--but one of them will ask her for the biggest decision yet: Good, or evil?
1. Chapter 1

**Ranger Records**

A New Beginning

_Dear Diary,_

_A few months ago, near the beginning of summer, I got my acceptance letter from the Ranger School! I'll be heading off for there tomorrow. It's the start of my adventure. I could have been like my sister, skipping off to contests left and right and earning ribbons, and sure, that seemed sort of appealing to me, but for some reason I don't think I'd be cut out for it._

_I also could have taken the same path as my brother, but I don't think I could make it as a trainer, either. I love Pokémon, _a lot_, but I don't think I'd be the best caretaker in the world. Maybe for one Pokémon, or even two, but I couldn't constantly take care of six of them! I just couldn't handle the worry!_

_So I decided to take an entirely different route, and applied for the Ranger School. And I even got in!_

_However, I now have another choice ahead of me. Should I be a Ranger, an Operator, or a Mechanic? Right now I honestly don't know, but I'm sure the answer will come to me once I've been at school for a while._

_To commemorate my accomplishment, my Mother got me you! You're really pretty, you know. You're not too big, but not too small, and you're a dark purple, with black flowers all over your cover. You remind me of that story book I used to read, a long time ago. I forget its name. Something something of Estreal. At least I remembered the Estreal part, right? That means it was at least a fairy tale book about our region!_

_It's late, and I have to get up early tomorrow if I'm going to walk all the way to the school without being tardy for the opening ceremony at 12. I'm going to go to bed now. Goodnight, Diary. I can't wait to share my adventures with you._

I was having a really wonderful dream. You know, the kind of dream that comes by maybe once every six months. It's a dream that really makes you think that it's _real_, as if you're awake and walking around, talking to your friends and having a really amazing day, yet at the same time you can feel yourself asleep and it's completely relaxing. I was at the Ranger School, and already in my second semester. I had tons of friends and the highest grades in my class. The teachers loved me, too. I graduated early, because they said I didn't even need to finish the year!

And then I felt something lick my foot.

I shifted in my bed, tangling myself up in my blankets, and tried to kick whatever was licking me. It didn't feel like I made contact, but whatever I tried to kick made an angry noise anyway, and licked me yet again. I jerked, hit my night table with my head, and fell to the ground.

"Ow! Jeez, who the heck is _licking_ me—" I stopped myself. I kicked around until I got the blanket off. I really should have known. "Lickilicky! Get out of my room! I told you you weren't allowed in here during the morning! _This_ is why!"

Lickilicky sent me this look, as if saying 'well, _excuse_ you' and marched out of my room. I rubbed my head.

My peaceful morning awakening was ruined, however, when my mother decided to alert me of a very important fact that I seemed to have missed.

"Morning? Sweetheart, it's almost eleven! I mean, technically it's still the AM, but it's almost lunch, and therefore I consider it more of an early noon time…"

"…Wait, what, mom?"

I heard her tapping her fingernails against the railing, a sign that she was getting irritated. "It's almost eleven! Do I always have to repeat myself?"

"_Eleven?_"

"_Almost_ eleven."

"Mom, I have to be at the Ranger School in an_ hour_! That's all the way past Sherter Town! That's _three towns away_, and I have to go through Lawtor Forest as well! Why didn't you _wake me up_?" I threw my covers to the side and grabbed my favorite pair of black boots and purple tights. I put on a belt, a white shirt, my white bracelet and a black vest, combed my hair and grabbed my backpack.

"You were leaving for Ranger School _today_?"

"I told you that, mom!"

"You said the First!"

"It _is_ the First!"

"Oh, well look at that."

I ran into the bathroom and brushed my teeth quickly. No time to shower, but I had at least taken a quick one last night. My hair, though, wasn't washed during that one…

I turned on the sink and stuck my head under it. I grabbed some shampoo and lathered it through as quickly as possible, before dunking my head again. I grabbed a towel, did a quick rub dry, and brushed my hair out. It would dry more on the way there.

I ran downstairs and grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet. "I'm off, then, I guess! Bye mom!"

"Honey, that's hardly a proper breakfast," she said, now decorated with an apron. "Let me make you something. And I want to take your picture, too…"

"No time, mom! I love you, but I have to go."

"But your father will want to see pictures after he comes back from Hoenn!"

"You can get pictures of me in my uniform after my 1-day internship! I'll be sure to visit! I have to go!"

She sighed, resting her hands on her hips, a spatula clutched in her right hand. "Fine, fine. But if your father gets mad at _me_ for this…"

"He won't, mom. I'll write to you, okay?"

"…Okay. Be careful, Phay."

I smiled. Time to get while the getting's good. "Bye, mom."

And I ran.

I honestly couldn't remember any time I had run so fast in my entire life, or so much. It was the first day of me growing up, and yet I was already making mistakes. Why hadn't I set an alarm clock? Why hadn't I made _sure_ my mom knew I was leaving in the morning? Why didn't I allow Lickilicky to wake me up in the morning anymore?!

I was still about a mile away from the next town. Towns in Estreal weren't very far away, maybe three miles between each at the most. The cities, however, were wicked far, sometimes twenty miles away. Luckily there weren't any cities between my hometown of Vye Village and Sherter town, but it was still a good nine miles away. Seven, now, since I had already ran a good distance, but with only about forty five minutes left…

"My kingdom for a bike!" I screamed, running over the Lorraville bridge as fast as I could.

"Wait, wait! Wait, you, the one running there, please stop! I need help!"

I blinked and skidded to a stop. Near the beginning of the bridge there was an old woman. She was really small, I'd guess about five feet tall, and the hand she was using to grip her cain was shaking. I could feel my chest heaving in and out. Stopping made me more aware of the burning I felt. I really didn't have time for this! "Yes, ma'am? What is it?"

She smiled at me, as if she had been standing there for hours and I had been the first person to stop and address her. "My Skitty, a real rascal, ran up this tree here, and is now too afraid to come down on her own. I'd climb up to retrieve her myself, you see, but I'm just and old woman…"

I looked at my watch. Thirty seven minutes left. Thirty seven minutes to run six miles. "I'd really love to help, ma'am, but I'm really late, and…"

Immediately her smile faded. She seemed worn out and worried. So small, so fragile, so _vulnerable. _I saw her glancing up the tree, her Skitty mewing at her for assistance, and I saw her hang her head, sad that she really couldn't help the poor thing on her own.

"…" I began running towards her, and dropped my bag at the base of the tree. "I'll have your Skitty down real soon. I promise."

I examined the tree for a minute and reached up, tugging at one of the branches. Deciding it was sturdy enough I grabbed onto it and started up the tree. I had climbed a lot of them, being a kid and all, so it wasn't too hard, except for the fact that the branches were sort of far apart.

When I reached the Skitty, I held my hand out towards it, but it moved back, near the end of the branch. It wiggled, as if it was about to break, and I glanced downwards. It was a good ten feet up in the air, and if the Skitty fell, it could get hurt…

"Excuse me, ma'am? Do me a favor and hold your arms out, and follow where the Skitty goes while on the ground. Okay?"

She nodded to me and I nodded back. Slowly, I moved closer and closer to the Skitty, and it backed up more and more until it fell off the end. It shrieked, and the woman below looked a bit startled, but she was able to catch it, and it didn't claw her up, so all was good.

I smiled. "There you go, ma'am!"

She glared up at me, waving her cane as if to say that were I on the ground, she would strike me with it. "What a dangerous child! What would you have done if I was unable to catch my poor Skitty? It could have died! Reckless glutton!"

"…Glutton?"

"Hmph!" The woman exclaimed, marching off in the opposite direction of the bridge, probably heading to her home.

"…Well. You're welcome," I said, my lips pursed. Last time I help an old lady get her cat out of a tree. I glanced down at my watch, only to see that I had…twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes to run six miles.

"Shoot! I am _so_ late."

* * *

I got to the school an hour later. The opening ceremony had already come and gone, but I saw two teachers standing out front while a student attempted to catch a Bidoof. I hesitantly approached, just in time to see the capture.

The teacher on the left, a woman with her blond hair up in a pony tail and her green eyes hidden behind thick, black rimmed glasses smiled. She was wearing a large, Ranger School sweatshirt, a skirt that went down to the middle of her calves, thick white socks, and penny loafers. "Great job! You may enter the school now."

The student threw his hands up in joy and ran towards the doors of the school.

I coughed and moved a bit closer. The other teacher, a man with long, straight hair that fell to his shoulders glared at me. "Who are you?" When he crossed his arms I saw the muscles in his arm ripple, and I took a step back in fear. He had on a tight, white wife-beater shirt and jean shorts that fell to his knees.

"Um…hi, my name is Prophet Lotest, but I liked to be called Phay. I was accepted as a student in this school and received this acceptance letter" I pulled it out of my pocket, unfolded it and handed it to him. "at the beginning of summer."

His eyes traveled over the page for a moment, and upon confirming that it was a legitimate acceptance letter, he nodded. "You're late."

I hung my head a bit. "I know. And I'm really very sorry! It's just that I slept in, and then I met this lady on the way who needed her help getting her Skitty out of a tree, and…"

He held up his hand and I silenced myself immediately. I could already tell that he was one of _those_ teachers, the ones that you fear and automatically hate. The ones who think they know everything and always boss you around, and always punish you for things you didn't even do. And yet, you always listen to them because if you don't you wind up feeling like you had sold your soul to the devil and he was coming to collect. "Those are all just excuses. You knew how important the opening ceremony was, and you came here late anyway. If you lived far away, you should have woken up earlier. If you have problems waking up, you should have set an alarm. If you had done that and had been on time, you probably never would have met that old woman, anyway. The one mistake you made lead to others, and it's entirely your fault."

I felt like going home. I really did. This was supposed to be the first day of the rest of my life, and everything had been going wrong. If I didn't want further trouble, I'd just have to nod along while this guy ripped into me. And yet, I just…couldn't. Sure, that woman had been less than grateful, and sure, maybe if I hadn't stopped to help her or used up my energy climbing that tree I could have had more time and ran faster and might have at least caught _some_ of the ceremony. But I helped that woman. She got reunited with her Skitty, which she obviously cared a lot about. "Sir, I know this is entirely my fault, and I really am sorry, but I'm glad I was late. If I wasn't late, then, just as you said, I would have never met that woman. And that would mean that I never would have helped that woman. It had seemed like she had asked a lot of people before me, so if I hadn't been there, how many more would she have had to ask? I made a difference in her life and helped her out, so I don't have any regrets at all."

He seemed shocked that I had actually had the _audacity_ to speak back to him, and he opened his mouth to retort, but the woman teacher laid her hand on his arm. He glanced her way, a vein throbbing in his forehead, but she simply smiled and shook her head. After a moment of them staring at each other, he closed his mouth and his arms dropped to his side.

The woman looked back to me, her smile still glued to her face. "While you were late, you just showed the real spirit of a ranger. We welcome you to the school." If such things existed, I would have sworn a light bulb shined over her head, as her eyes widened and she scurried toward a cardboard box. She took out some kind of device and came back towards me, placing it in my hand. "This is your School Styler. It's your official capture device while you're a student here. Take good care of it."

I tilted my head.

"My name is Mrs. Corder, and this man here is Mr. Dolesbury. Phay, was it? I think you're in my class…"

I couldn't really hear what she was saying now, as I was inspecting whatever gizmo she had given me. "Um, excuse me?"

"Yes?"

"What's a Styler? And what do you mean by 'capture'?"

The man-teacher, Mr. Dullsbury or whatever, glared at me again. "You came to a ranger school and you have absolutely no idea what a Styler is? How can you call yourself a to-be ranger and not—"

The woman, Mrs. Corder, looked at him again and yet again, he silenced. She took her gaze back over to me and said, "A Styler is a Ranger's most important tool. It's what we use to capture Pokémon, communicate with other Rangers, and receive voicemails from our Operators during missions. A 'capture' is when we use the antenna of the Styler to release and control the capture disc, which circles around a Pokémon with a capture line, which lets the Pokémon understand our feelings. When a Pokémon completely understands, it's captured, and lends us its help during missions."

"Oh."

I could tell that Mr. Dullsburg was getting more and more frustrated, but the woman just kept on smiling. She was nice. I liked her. Him, not so much.

He smiled now, too, though. Only it wasn't an 'aw, I'm gonna be nice now' smile. It was more of a 'haha, now I can get you back for pissing me off, because I'm going to piss on your life' smile. He nodded to a Pikachu near the doors of the school. "In order to enter the school, you have to capture that Pikachu."

The woman glared at him this time. "We made all of the other children capture Bidoof. Pikachu's are of a higher level, Mr. Dolesbury. That's simply not fair—"

"She came late, Mrs. Corder. And we decided that we get to decide which Pokémon a student has to capture for each others class, right? This is my decision."

"Excuse me," I said, cutting them off. "But what happens if it gets really late and I still haven't caught it?"

"You sleep outside."

"Mr. Dolesbury!"

"It's her punishment for being late, Mrs. Corder."

"What will I do for classes, then?" I asked, beginning to get nervous. He wasn't serious, right?

He smirked. "You can watch and take notes from the windows. All classes are on the ground floor."

Oh, he was serious.

* * *

It was eight hours later. Mr. Dolesbury had left after the first, and even Mrs. Corder had left after the third hour passed. And me? I was still there, at the front of the school, trying to capture that Pikachu. It kept getting near the capture line, and I was afraid it was going to attack it or it was going to break, so I kept withdrawing my attacks. Basically, I was getting nowhere, fast.

A lot of my classmates had passed me during that time, and I kept getting points and laughs, mocking remarks or snide comments. It hurt a little, it really did. These were my new classmates that I was supposed to be making friends with, and they already thought I was a loser.

I sighed and closed up my Styler, slumping against the cold stone of the building. The Pikachu quirked its head at me, as if to say "oh, so you're done now?" and it skirted off somewhere. I would have chased after it, had I not been so tired, but instead I just laid down against the building, curling up into a ball. I hadn't eaten anything except for the granola bar in the morning, and since all meals were held inside of the school, I wasn't about to eat any time soon. I rubbed my stomach as it rumbled, and tried to drift off to sleep, shivering as a breeze passed over me with no blanket to cover me from the wind.

I felt something poke my arm, and used the rest of my energy to pry my eyes open. There it was, the same Pikachu I had been trying to catch a moment before, with an apple balanced on its head. I sat up immediately, drooling a bit. It was so big, and so juicy looking…

The Pikachu jerked back a little, probably startled by my sudden movement, and the apple fell of its head and rolled towards me. I grabbed for it right away, as I was absolutely _starved_, but then I looked back at the Pikachu. It hadn't purposely dropped the apple for me, I had accidentally knocked it off. What if it was its dinner?

I looked longingly at it for another second, and then held it out towards the Pikachu. It stared for a minute and shook its head, nudging the apple towards me with its tail.

"But it's yours, isn't it?"

"Pika, pika pi, pi chu, pi," it said, nudging the apple with its tail again. It was giving it to me, but the Pikachu had been with me as long as I had been with it, and it hadn't eaten anything, either.

"Hold on," I said. "I think I have a solution to this."

I dug inside my backpack until I felt something prick my finger. Bingo. I grabbed it and pulled it out. My mother had packed a sewing kit for me, just to be safe, and it was a good thing, too, because one of the needles could really come in handy. I took one of them out and made a vertical circle around the apple, and then retraced it a few times. Once the gash was somewhat deep, I put the needle away, grabbed the two sides of the apple and twisted. It broke apart into two, somewhat equal pieces, and I held out one to Pikachu. "Let's share, okay?"

"Pi pika pika chu?"

"It's fine."

It hesitated for a moment, but it grabbed the half with its hands and took a couple reluctant bites. I smiled and began to devour mine, happy to finally have _something_ to eat.

"You know, Pikachu, I _will_ capture you. But until I do, we should have our meals together, okay?"

"Chu Pika pi chu pi."

"Then we have an agreement. Goodnight."

"Pikachu."

* * *

Authors Note: Well, there we go! My first chapter. I got inspired after playing Pokemon Rangers: Shadows of Almia, and because I loved it so much, I decided to write my own Ranger story!

I'll try to update really soon, and I've got a few surprises in store for anyone who likes my story down the line. I know this chapter was probably a little slow (I'm sorry if it bored you D:), but it'll pick up soon. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ranger Records**

Making Friends

_Dear Diary,_

_I wouldn't even be writing this right now if I hadn't been lucky enough to find a pen in the grass. It's been two days since I've arrived at Ranger School and guess what? I. Am. Still. Outside._

_I've had to resort to bathing in the fountain when no one is looking, sleeping in a bush to keep warm, and relying on Pikachu to get me through the days without starving to death. Yes, the same Pikachu I was assigned to capture. We're great friends, really. He'll dance and make faces to keep me entertained, sleep with me to give me an extra burst of warmth, and pat my shoulder when I have one of my increasingly worse break-downs. It's all very nice and good._

_But I really wish I could just capture it. I really, really do._

_I haven't had to go to a class yet. The first three days that school is in session, including orientation day, are given to students to get settled into their dorms and make friends before classes begin. I was hoping to have caught Pikachu by the end of this grace period, as to avoid the embarrassment of greeting my classmates from a two-by-four foot window._

_Unfortunately, my hopes have crashed to the ground louder than an earthquake._

_They'll probably think I'm an intruder when they see me, Diary. I don't even have my uniform yet. They leave them on your bed, so I was told by an albino boy who thought I was mentally retarded and couldn't figure out where my clothes were._

_(He caught me in the fountain.)_

_I'm very tired, Diary. Very, very tired. I'm about ready to go home. If I can't catch Pikachu after class today, I very well might._

_Wish me luck._

I had arrived at the classroom before anyone else. It wasn't surprising, really, since I had nothing better to do _but_ go to class. Everyone else was probably finishing breakfast or talking with friends, fixing themselves up or getting their school supplies.

Me? I was trying to fashion a chair that I could sit in for the next three hours of lessons that was high enough to see through the window.

Out of leaves.

Regrettably it wasn't going very well, and so I decided to think of standing through the lesson as a slow and painful workout. I leaned against the window frame; my arms folded under my chin, and hummed the alphabet as I waited for my classmates to file in. When they did, I straightened up immediately, subconsciously batting at my hair and clothes. Not that it mattered. Anything I did probably wouldn't make my clothes any neater nor get any more blades of grass out of my hair.

Most of them raised an eyebrow at me but decided against questioning it, and simply sat down in their seats. These people were my favorites, God-sent angels, here to bless me in my misery.

There was one boy who kept staring at me, though. He was tall, around 5'11, with shaggy brown hair and playful blue eyes. I hoped and prayed he would just sit down.

"Hey, homeless chick, what are you doing?"

Everyone looked at him, as he spoke loud enough to catch the whole class's attention, and then they all looked back at me. My first thought was to let my knees buckle beneath me and fall to the ground, out of site. My pride wouldn't let me, though. My pride had just taken an atomic bomb to the face.

"I'm not homeless," I said, crossing my arms. "I'm a student here. I just…can't enter the building yet."

A blond girl spoke up this time, her uniform in perfect form, unlike the rest of my classmates. She brushed her stick-straight hair behind her ear. "Why not?"

My arms broke apart, and slowly fell to my side. "Uh…well, I haven't passed the capture test yet, so Mr. Dolesbury isn't allowing me into the building."

A chubby black-haired boy from the front row was the next to speak, bellowing as he munched on what I assumed to be a snickers bar. "You haven't passed the capture test yet? Ha! I tell you, it takes skill to catch a bidoof, but it takes real skill _not_ to catch a bidoof."

The brown-haired boy, my current #1 Hated Person, spoke again. "Oh? So you're one of my classmates?"

When I nodded, he smirked and made his way over to the window, and, leaning out of it and making sure to peer at me right in my face, his eyes moved up and down, and he leaned back into the classroom, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Three."

"Huh?"

"I give your face a three, on an attractive scale of one-to-ten."

My fists balled at my side. "_Excuse me?_"

A brown haired girl with a bow in her hair piped up this time, a lollipop hanging out of her mouth. "Just her face? What about the rest of her?"

The brown-haired-boy ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "Well, if I were to rate that as well, it'd no doubt bring her grade down. I was trying to be nice."

"Two."

The boy blinked and looked at me, tilting his head. "Say what?"

"I give your self-centered, egotistical, shallow, cliché personality a two."

Everyone stopped talking, but I pressed on. Enough was _enough._ The day before I got to this school I was bustling with excitement and anticipation. I thought it was going to be great. But I was like a nail getting hammered into a board of utter _suckage._ Old Lady? _Bang._ Mr. Dolesbury?_ Bang._ Albino boy catching me naked?_ Bang bang BANG._ But this kid? This jerk? He hit the nail for the final time. The board had cracked and left him with a dozen splinters. "And you're right; it does take skill _not_ to catch a bidoof. But it doesn't take skill not to _try._ I was assigned the capture of a Pikachu, which is harder than anything any of you had to do, so I don't see a reason for you all to get so high and mighty."

Some people were still staring at me, surprised I had spoken to them all that way, some looked away, probably feeling guilty for ganging up on me, and a few just looked like they didn't care about the situation at all, like a longish-black-haired kid in the back corner listening to his iPoké.

Brown-haired boy looked peeved, though. What, he can dish it out but he can't take it?

He smirked a moment later, which caught me off guard, and then advanced towards me, stuck out his tongue, slammed the window and locked it shut.

I blinked and banged on the glass, yelling, "hey!" and, "open up!" as loud as I could, but he cupped his hand around his ear, as if to say, "I'm sorry, what?" and drew the curtains.

What a jerk.

* * *

I had given up on getting the window open after an hour of banging and yelling, and I was sitting under the apple tree Pikachu got our food from. It had joined me now, dancing around and trying to lift my spirits. Me? I was preoccupied with tearing grass out of the ground.

I threw the grass up into the wind and watched it as it was scattered around, then turned my attention back to my yellow friend. "Hey, Pikachu, how about we go a few more rounds? I really need to catch you soon."

It nodded as if it understood, and ran about ten feet away from me, in battle position. I smiled weakly and rose to my feet, digging my Styler out of my pocket. Closing my eyes, I whispered reassurances to myself. Lame, I know, but if I didn't give myself a boost of confidence, who would?

"Don't be quick to break your capture line. Watch Pikachu's movements and try to see a pattern. When you understand the pattern, you'll see the opening you need. Trust your gut, not your nerves."

I nodded to myself, opened my eyes, and pulled my Styler's Antenna to full length. "Shall we, Pikachu?"

"Pika."

I launched my capture disc the moment it agreed, but I didn't have it circle Pikachu immediately, deciding that it would be better to first watch its reaction. And it reacted the same way it did every other time—it launched itself up into the air, curled its body, and released a thunderbolt.

I yanked my Styler back and the disc followed my movements, moving out of the way of the Pokémon's attack. I waited for the shock to leave the air and then sent the disc straight for Pikachu, figuring that since it couldn't move mid-air now would be the best time to try and capture it. I twisted the Styler madly, and ended up closing my eyes in the midst of my own assault. Would the capture line break? Would Pikachu attack it? Would I break my Styler and face the humiliation of having to beg Mr. Dolesbury for a new one?

But…nothing happened.

I stopped twisting my wrist and opened my eyes, only to see the capture disc stop spinning in the air around…nothing. Pikachu was sitting in front of me, staring up at me with one of its ears perked up and the other folded lazily.

"Pikachu? Is something up?" I asked, lowering my hand and watching the capture disc fall silently to the ground.

"Pi, pika pi pika chu."

"…Did I…capture you?"

"Pi."

I blinked and called the capture disc back without even realizing what I was doing. "I…captured you?"

It made a motion that seemed as if it were sighing and said, "Pi chu pika pi."

"…I captured you!" I exclaimed, swinging down and taking the Pokémon up in my arms. I danced around, hugging it tight to my chest, and although it writhed against me uncomfortably, I didn't care. I had captured Pikachu! I could finally go into the school—I could take a hot shower, sleep in a warm bed and eat a hot meal. I could eat something other than apples! I could talk to my roommate and not worry about that jerk shutting me out of the classroom and—

"Pikachu, I captured you! I really, really did!"

* * *

It took me fifteen minutes to find Mr. Dolesbury, five to make him stop scolding me about sneaking into the school, and ten to explain to him that I had captured Pikachu and passed the capture test.

He had a skeptical look on his face, but upon seeing the Pokémon run around my feet and climb on me happily, he seemed to have accepted the fact that I wasn't lying. He gave me a key to my dorm, a map of the school, a list of extra curricular activities, a copy of the school rules and a full schedule of class subjects.

Then, since he seemed to have spoken to me for as long as he could handle, he marched off to do whatever it was that he was paid to do. Considering there was only ten minutes left to classes for the day, I decided to go to my dorm, take a long, hot shower and change into my uniform.

The school itself looked pretty ordinary. It wasn't spectacularly beautiful, like the kind of schools you see on TV. It was all brick walls and tiled floors. But even though it wasn't the most impressive thing I had ever seen, it was special. Being allowed to walk those floors was an honor, no matter how grimy the floors were.

There were four classrooms. Besides Mrs. Corder and Mr. Dolesbury, I didn't know who taught here, seeing as I missed the orientation ceremony. All I knew is that they were both women. There was also a large library, which resided on all three floors of the school and had a staircase separate from the one in the main hall, a cafeteria which tables were divided by class, a staff room, two bathrooms for each gender, a gym where all target clears and capture practices would take place, as well as PE, and a floor reserved especially for the dorms.

The girl's dorm was on the right side, and the boy's dorm was on the left, next to the library. After I trudged up the stairs, I ran into a woman who was carrying a large bucket of laundry. She smiled, welcomed me, and told me that her name was Ms. Rader. She said that she would be watching after me, kind of like a nanny. I smiled and asked her to please take care of me, and then made my way to my room—Female Residence Number 18.

It was a simple, small room. It had white walls, hardwood floors, two desks and a single window. My stuff was already on my bed, considering you had to send your belongings a week before arriving at the school. It was great to see that everything had made it, and that my roommate had been kind enough not to touch my stuff. Knowing that I'd be living with someone who respected others' privacy was a huge relief. I looked over to her side of the room, examining her stuffed animals, the clutter of papers, pencils and pens that were scattered across her desk, and the posters hanging on the walls. She had a small bulletin board hanging next to her bed, and I saw a picture labeled "Aria (Me!), Sue and Chase."

After closer inspection I noticed that she was one of the girls I had spoken to in class earlier—the cute brown haired girl with the lollipop. My heart sank a little. We started off on a bad foot.

I made my way over to my bed and fell back onto it, sighing. It was like floating on a cloud, compared to sleeping on the cold ground with an itchy bush on top of me. I was so tired, but I was also happy. This would be the turning point—I just knew it. Things had been hard, and there was probably going to be more difficulties to come, but my adventure had now officially begun. I wouldn't be depressed anymore. I'd face the challenges head-on, and I'd hopefully have a couple of friends to support me through the tough times. I knew I would. Everything would be alright.

* * *

"Hey, hey! Wake up! Come on, come on!" I heard someone whisper nervously in my ear. I moaned and rolled over, attempting to pull my pillow over my head to cover my ears. Whoever it was decided that that wouldn't do, and stole my pillow away from me, but not before hitting me with it a time or two. "Wake up, Prophet-girl!"

"Phay," I cried, rubbing my eyes and summoning enough strength to sit up. "Call me Phay."

"Oh, that's a lot better. I was going to have to make fun of you if I actually had to call you 'Prophet' for however long we'll be together. Who names their kid 'Prophet' anyway? It's like taping a message on their back that says 'Please-Tease-Me!' Jeez."

I pried my eyes open to get a better look at whomever it was that decided rambling on to a really tired, cranky girl was a good idea. 'Whomever it was' turned out to be my roommate, Aria. "Was there something you needed?"

"Uh, yeah. You," she said, walking over to her desk and grabbing her Styler. "I have somewhere I need to be, and you're the something I need to bring."

I yawned. Rather loudly. And I didn't bother covering my mouth. "Can't you 'be' and 'bring me' later? It's really late."

"That's the point, kid," she replied, smirking at me in a mischievous manner that couldn't help but make me nervous. "You weren't here on the first night so you don't know—we all had to do tests of courage. Tonight, now that you're _finally_ in the dorm, we're going to have yours."

"A test of courage? Why do I have to do something like that?"

"Well, you don't _have to_. I'll still talk to you no matter what—I'm not up for a whole awkward hate-hate relationship with the girly I'm rooming with. But, kid, none of the others will accept you if you chicken out on something like this. Your social acceptance odds, which are already rather low, considering the sitchy you got into this morning, will take a head-first suicide plunge into the negatives. If you're cool with that, then we can sit here, chill, get to know each other and go to sleep. If you're not so cool with making everyone your arch-nemesis, I'd get off your butt and change with the speed of Superman, because it's time to face your enemies head on."

"…Sitchy?"

"Shorthand for situation. I abbrev a lot. See there? I just abbreviated abbreviate. That there's called skill."

"Do you always talk like that?"

She cocked her eyebrow and rested one hand on her hip. "Gotta problem with it?"

"No—no! Not at all. I just think it's kind of…unique. In a good way. It's funny."

She flashed a smile. "Good. Cuz if you gave me problems over the way I dialogue we'd be getting into one-too-many drama scenes. Life is all one big movie, and we're in the genre of action-comedy. People can take their drama-Miltanks to graze in a different part of the region."

I laughed. Her smile grew. "So, you coming? The others are all waiting downstairs, and I've gotta give them an update."

I sighed and stood up. "I'll go," a pause, "But I'm not promising I'll do whatever this 'test of courage' entails if I don't feel comfortable with it."

"That's fine, that's fine," she said, grabbing me by my shoulders and pushing me out the door, her Styler digging into my back. "If you've got the guts to go in the first place I doubt you'll Cumbusk-a-busken-busk and run away. The test isn't so terrifying."

"Cumbusk-a-busken-busk?"

"Torchic out."

"Combusken make that sound, not Torchic."

"What_ever_!"

We trudged out of the dorms and into the connecting room, only to find a group of ten-or so of my classmates standing there, all looking straight at me. I gulped a bit—I had yelled at all of them this morning. This probably wasn't going to go well.

"Well, it seems that the homeless girl thinks she's up to the challenge," said none other than brown-haired-boy. I dug my nails into my palms.

"Tell me what I have to do before I agree to do anything."

He snorted and crossed his arms. "It isn't that hard. It's not even that scary—all you have to do is go outside and catch a Pokémon that none of us have caught before. Pikachu is out, as well as bidoof, and I believe that you caught an Oddish, didn't you, Riley?"

A girl nodded and I noticed it was the organized looking blond from this morning. I smiled weakly at her. Her mouth twitched in what I assumed was her attempt to smile back, but she quickly looked down and straightened out her skirt. Well, at least she hadn't completely ignored me.

"It's sorta dangerous," Aria said from beside me, her hand resting comfortably on my shoulder. "So we're going to put a blind fold on you."

"…And this makes it less dangerous because?"

She raised her eyebrows at me. "We're not sending you out there with it on, kid. We're gonna spin you faster than a whirlwind and let you latch on to two poor shmucks, and they'll trudge through the mud of your little midnight adventure with you. They're going along to help you in times of dire need, so you should need it. One acts as an assistant—they can give you advice and such. The other is a witness, since we don't want you bringing the Pokémon back inside. Dolesbury knows you only caught a Pikachu, and everyone knows that you fell asleep immediately after coming in the building. You randomly having another Pokémon the next day will raise suspicion, so you gotta send the little critter on its way after capturing it. Okay?"

"…Fine." It didn't sound so bad, so I agreed.

"Awesome sauce," she said, and blindfolded me without any warning. I flinched a bit, but otherwise I was fine. I'd have to get used to this girl's weird way of doing things. I felt a dozen hands begin to spin me around, and after I started spinning on my own, they let go. My hand brushed against a whole bunch of people's shirts. I felt a large stomach through one of them and immediately knew it was pudgy-boy from this morning. Him, I refused to grab. The only other distinctions I could make were boy and girl, and only because the girls were smaller in such an obvious way compared to the boys. Boys would probably be better, I figured, considering if something dangerous did happen they'd be faster, stronger and hopefully able to protect me. I didn't know any of them well, so trying to figure out who was who and grabbing on to a certain someone would be pointless. I just latched on to two random people, both of them on opposite sides of the circle. One didn't move, and I heard a groan from the other. Then, Aria's voice piped up. "And there you have it! Shade, Josh, take care of Phay, alright?"

I let go of their shirts and pulled the blindfold off my head, only to see that everyone other than the two boys and Aria had backed away. One of them was the 'I-don't-care-so-I'm-going-to-listen-to-my-iPoké' boy from this morning. The other was brown-haired boy. Upon seeing him, I also groaned.

Aria laughed. "That one is Josh and Mr. Oh-so-silent and mysterious is Shade. Their personalities are difficult, but they're both decent at capturing! I'm sure they won't be a leech seed in your side."

"Hey, you haven't even known me for a week! What gives you the right to call my personality difficult?" Josh said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Two reasons: the fact that you've hit on every girl here, _including me_, and the fact that even though you very well know Phay's name you're still calling her 'homeless girl.'"

"Only one of those things is true. I haven't hit on homeless girl, so I haven't hit on every girl here," he said. Then, smirking, he added, "I'm sorry though, baby. Did I make you jealous? I have eyes only for you, I promise."

Aria rolled her eyes and shoved him towards the door, then turned to me. "You'll be fine. Don't worry. If he makes an advance on you, either hide behind Shade or scream 'rape!' The last one works really well. I did it to him two days ago. We had to have a sexual harassment conference with the principal. It was lovely."

"Oh, yeah," Josh snorted. "Lovely."

I laughed and thanked Aria, turned to Shade, bowed, asked him to please take care of me, and made my way for the door, brushing right past Josh and not saying a word.

* * *

Sneaking out of the school was easier than I expected. No one was patrolling the halls, and there weren't even any Pokémon keeping watch. I didn't know if this was because the teachers trusted us students too much, or that they didn't think anyone would have the audacity to sneak out of the school in the middle of the night. Either way, it made this whole thing a lot easier.

The people accompanying me, however, did not.

No one was speaking. I was happy not to have to talk with Josh, and I had already pegged Shade as a quiet guy in the morning when I glimpsed at him in the classroom, but the silence was weighing heavily on my shoulders. Even when I was outside alone, I always had Pikachu to talk to. These two were ridiculous.

We weren't really getting anywhere—just wandering around the grounds, searching with our eyes for the slightest sign of a Pokémon. And we did see some—but they were all Oddish, Pikachu and Bidoof. Not a single other Pokémon to be found. I turned to Shade. If we were going to be out here for a while, I might as wellhave _tried_ to start a conversation. "Um, so, what are you going to be after we graduate—" But before I had a chance to finish my question, he reached over and tugged me back, just in time for me to see a poison sting attack fly in front of my face.

My eyes became as wide and round as a Jigglypuff, and I fell back onto the ground with a loud thump. Josh had fallen back too, after screaming and dodging the attack in a clumsy manner.

"Dude," he yelled, glaring up at Shade while letting out a shaky breath. "If you knew that was coming, how about warning me, too, instead of pulling only her out of the way!"

Shade ignored him and glanced at me before pointing to a tree. Under it was an Ekans, looking at us rather spitefully while slithering in a tangled lump near the trunk.

"There's an injury," Shade said, lowering his hand.

I blinked and looked from him to the snake, examining it from a distance. He was right—there was an injury. Three long slash marks near its head. "It must have gotten into a fight with a Zangoose…"

"We must have wandered too close and scared it." Josh said, getting up and brushing himself off. I sat there a moment, staring at it. It _did_ look scared. Angry, frightened, pained…helpless.

"Let's keep going—we don't want it to attack us again. We can find you a low-level Pokémon, let you capture it, and get back inside."

Josh began walking away, but I stayed where I was on the ground, staring at the Ekans. It needed help, didn't it? Was it okay to just…leave?

"You could leave," Shade muttered, standing next to me, eyes fixed on the Ekans. "You could go find a weaker Pokémon and capture it instead. You could rationalize it by saying things like 'I wouldn't be able to capture it. I'd do more bad than good. It'll be fine even if no one helps it.' But I wonder…" He then switched his gaze to me, and simply gazed. It was a monotonous look—adorned with an emotionless expression and blank eyes. "A Styler can only be used by those of just heart. Would yours still work for you were you to leave?"

"What are you going on about," Josh sighed, waiting for the two of us about ten feet away.

Shade shrugged, looked at me once more and made his way over to Josh. I just continued sitting there, staring.

"Homeless girl, I know this has been your like, home for the past few days, but I can guarantee your bed will be a lot better than the ground you're currently sitting on. So could you get up so we can get this over with?"

I complied. I did get up.

But I didn't go over to him.

Instead, I took out my Styler and launched the capture disc.

Josh groaned. "She's going to try the Ekans? _Dude,_ what did you _say_ to her."

"Nothing."

The Ekans hissed and coiled up against the tree. I told myself to remember how it felt to capture Pikachu earlier that day; how I went about capturing it and how I kept it from breaking my Styler.

I began circling my wrist, having the capture disc float near the Ekans before pulling it back just in time to miss another poison sting attack. It was scared, skittish—it was acting on instinct alone, and not rational thought. It probably feared that I was trying to hurt it.

_I'm not_, I thought, rushing the disc over to it and circling it quickly. _This disc is supposed to channel my feelings. If it can really do that, then I hope you can feel this, Ekans. I'm not trying to hurt you. _A twist, a pull, a spin. _I want to help. I just want to help you, Ekans. That's all I want. I know you're scared. _A few rapid circles, a jerk away from an oncoming attack. _I know you're in pain. I can help you. Trust me._

The capture line disappeared and the disc flew back to my Styler. I glanced from it to the Ekans, wondering if it had broken the capture line—instead, it was slithering towards me, a vulnerable expression gracing its otherwise ferocious features.

"…She actually captured it?"

"Mm."

I fell to my knees and stroked the poor Pokémon on the head before letting it twist around my waist and arms. I looked towards the boys, smiling.

"Anyone got a Super Potion?"

* * *

After we had healed the Ekans and went back to the dorms, Josh, although begrudgingly, admitted to everyone that I had successfully captured an Ekans. Aria had nearly knocked me over with the force of her hug, while others smiled, congratulated me and patted me sportingly on the back.

The day had started off really tough. The school year in a whole did, really--but today had turned out to be amazing. I had passed my capture test _and_ my test of courage. I had accomplished the task of earning my classmate's acceptance and respect. Things were _finally_ looking up.

I could only hope they stayed that way.

* * *

Authors Note: And there you have it! I _finally_ finished chapter 2. I'm really sorry for the wait! Although there was actually only one person waiting for this chapter to come out xD;

So, a special thanks to my one and only reviewer, ravengal! Thanks so much for your kind words and for your favorite. It means a lot to me, especially coming from you.

I hope I get more reviewers this time around, though ;


	3. Chapter 3

**Ranger Records**

A Hot Teacher?

_Dear Diary,_

_Things really sucked when I first started out. Being late for orientation, meeting that ungrateful old woman, having to deal with Mr. Dolesbury, being assigned the capture of a Pikachu, sleeping outside, being locked out of my classroom, and having a fight with all of my classmates (mainly Josh)—but things are finally looking up. Aria, my roommate, is completely crazy, but we're becoming really, really close. Sometimes I still need a translator in order to speak with her, but it's getting easier and easier and she's becoming funnier and funnier to me. _

_Riley is the typical nerdy-and-proper glasses girl. It's sort of a cliché, especially when paired with how shy she is, but she's super nice! The only people I haven't been able to make friends with yet are Charlie (chubby boy) and Josh. Josh I don't really care about, but Charlie refuses to talk to me, and I think it's because he's bitter about me calling him out in front of the whole class. But, whatever, his loss._

_Shade is still really quiet, but whenever I have a spare moment I always go and sit next to him. It's nice to have someone calm to go and spend time with. We never really say much, just sort of stay and enjoy each other's company. Usually he'll nod to me when I arrive and offer me an ear bud so we can both listen to his iPoké. _

_I'm still not _awesome_ at capturing, but I'm at least average now. I don't know but I just…I'm starting to feel like I really belong, you know? It's nice._

School had become routine. Get up, get dressed, go to three hours of lessons starting at nine, have lunch, and then we could use the rest of our time in three different ways: extra practical training in the gym, capturing Pokémon around the grounds, or spending time with friends outdoors. We weren't allowed back into the classrooms, dining hall, library, or dorms until seven. Eight was dinner, then another hour of free time to be used _indoors_ only, and then bed.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, I did practical training in the gym. On the other four days of the week I usually just spent time with my friends, and if I saw a Pokémon I wanted to capture along the way, then I would capture it while with them. Most of the time I'd be with Aria, but, despite their bickering, she and Josh were actually very close, and whenever she wanted to hang out with him I'd make excuses and go off to find Shade.

Today, however, before I could make a skillful escape, Josh actually brought up a subject that was interesting enough to make me stay.

"Dude," he said, directing the comment to Aria. "Mrs. Corder is a _babe._"

Aria quirked a brow at him, and turned back to toying with her school styler—which totally was not allowed, but she was an aspiring mechanic and she couldn't really help herself. "Well, I wouldn't call her ugly, but she's hardly babilicious."

"_No_, get this; I was just in the classroom—"

"You're not supposed to be inside at this time," I pointed out.

"Yeah, well, _bite me_, I had to get something. Anyway, Mrs. Corder came in, right?" He shifted in front of us, making us stop, apparently trying to get our full attention. "So I hid in the back behind a desk, and she didn't see me. Then, she takes her hair out of her bun thing and takes off her glasses. It was like one of those movies wear the librarian turns out to be a total hottie. _And then_, she took off her sweatshirt and she had this white button-up blouse on, with the first two buttons undone, and it was all tight fitting and—"

"Don't get too excited," Aria snorted, jamming her screwdriver into a spot I was sure it wasn't supposed to be.

"Hey, don't be mean. I'm getting to the good part."

"There's more?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think she has a thing with Mr. Dolesbury."

_That_ made Aria look up. And made me gag. "_Mr. Dolesbury," _she repeated, clearly in disbelief.

"Yup. Mr. Dolesbury."

"Wait, though," I interrupted, tucking my hair behind my ear. "She's _Mrs. _Corder. Married."

"That's what I thought, too. But Mr. Dolesbury came in shortly after she took her sweatshirt off, and when they were talking—and his eyes weren't focused somewhere other than her face—she brought up this guy named Thomas. Apparently he asked her for money. Mr. Dolesbury looked really pissed, called him a waste of space, and asked her why she bothered keeping his name. Meaning that she's _divorced._" His face contorted in a perverted kind of grin. "Think I'll be able to hit that by the end of the year?"

"No," Aria said matter-of-factly. "But why do you think she and Mr. Dolesbury have a thing?"

"Why else would she take off her geek-making-gear? And the way that he was looking at her made it _totally obvious_ that he wanted on that."

"You know," I said, looking over to Aria. "He may be right. When I was late to orientation and Mr. Dolesbury was laying in to me, Mrs. Corder kept silencing him with just looks. I doubt that he's the kind of man to settle down just because his colleague told him to. But if it was a colleague that he _liked_…"

"So, what," Aria said, lowering her styler and screwdriver to her sides. "You think there's Luvdisc in the air?"

"There isn't a doubt in my mind. And _I _think we should help them along. If Mr. Dolesbury got laid do you know how much pressure would be off our backs?"

Aria rolled her eyes, but I seriously considered it. Ever since I had been late, Mr. Dolesbury had been especially hard on me. And it _sucked_. Royally. Maybe if he had a girlfriend to distract him he wouldn't be so worried about making my life miserable.

"I'm in."

Josh looked surprised, and I swear I saw Aria's mouth drop before she said, "What? Really?"

"Yeah," I said unwaveringly. I didn't want to deal with Dullsbury anymore.

"Well, you two are as crazy as Spoinks. I'm not getting into that." She shoved her screwdriver into her back pocket, closed up her styler, and weighed it in her hand before beginning to walk away. "Have fun!"

I watched her walk away, my mouth open to say something but no words coming out. Josh, however, was more than able to speak. "Why are you leaving me with _her_?" He called after Aria, getting nothing but a hand wave in return.

I glanced at him and coughed, one of those awkward, breaks the silence coughs. "Look, I'm sure that I'm the last person you'd want to be doing this with—"

"Feel free to say that again."

"—_But_ I want to get Mr. Dolesbury off my back as much as you do. So could you just put up with me for now? Like a truce or something?"

He sighed, looking over at me with his hands shoved into his pockets. "I…guess. If you have an idea of how to go about this, that is."

Oh, so now I had to have the idea. Jerk. "Uh…"

"Actually, I think I do! Follow me."

* * *

"Is he up there?"

"Yeah, I got him up."

"Alright. I'll go get Mrs. Corder. Wait ten minutes and then go get Mr. Dolesbury."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the plan!"

"I was just making sure! God, you're a pain." I rolled my eyes and started making my way towards Mrs. Corder's office. I heard him mumble 'ditto' behind me, but ignored it. It was seven, so everyone was making their way to lunch now, but the teachers always came a bit late, so Mrs. Corder _should_ have been in there. Hopefully.

I had forsaken knocking and just barged in, mustering up my best acting skills to make my face look panicked and my breathing just erratic enough. "Mrs. Corder! There's a Pikachu on the roof! It's running around like crazy, probably trying to figure out how to get down, but I think it's going to fall off!"

She started a bit when I barged in, but after hearing my anxious plea, Mrs. Corder pushed away from her desk in a rush and ran by me to the staircase leading up to the roof. I followed her, but when she went onto the roof, I hid behind a trash can near the door. But a moment later I heard Mr. Dolesbury and Josh running up the stairs, and one of them pulling open the door and hurrying onto the roof. Then I heard the lock click into place.

I poked my head out and smiled when I saw Josh. He smirked in return, jangling the keys we had swiped from the janitor earlier that day. "Alright, time for phase two," he said, going ahead down the stairs. I followed.

We ran outside and over to my old sleeping spot, where we had hidden a sheet behind my bush-bed. We both took two corners and stretched it as far as we could, looked at one another, nodded, and whistled simultaneously. Suddenly a blob of yellow had appeared jumping off the side of the roof, and after its impact with the sheet, I heard a "Piiiika."

Josh and I dropped the sheet back behind the bush and Pikachu jumped into my arms. We ran back to the main doorway and hid ourselves under the overhang. We waited until we couldn't hear their questions about Pikachu's whereabouts anymore before we bolted for a tree that had a big enough top of leaves that they couldn't see us, but was close enough that we could see them.

Josh poked his head out and lifted a pair of binoculars to his face, then started narrating to me what was going on. "They gave up looking for Pikachu, I think. Oh, now they're trying the door." He laughed. "Oh, awesome. Mr. Dolesbury tried ramming it and hurt his shoulder. Mrs. Corder looks really concerned, but he waved her off, probably playing tough. That looked like it killed. Mrs. Corder went to sit down now. Oh—Mr. Dolesbury sat next to her! They're talking about something. She's looking down. Ew, he's staring at her in this rapist way. Whoa—whoa, Phay, he's touching her!"

"What?" I said, grabbing the binoculars, trying to pull them my way. Josh wouldn't give them up, though, so we just each took a lens and used them like joint-telescopes, our ears and shoulders pressed together uncomfortably.

He was right, Mr. Dolesbury was _touching_ her. Patting her on the head, actually. Then his hand slid out of sight behind her, and a second later her hair was down. She looked up at him, and he tilted his head like he was admiring something beautiful, before taking her glasses off, as well. She opened her mouth, probably going to question him, but he kissed her—

"Eww," we said in unison, both lowering the binoculars at the same time.

We looked at each other and laughed, and Josh held up his hand for a high-five. I went for it, and he pulled away. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he held out his fist with a smirk, and I pounded it.

"Mission success."

* * *

When I got back to my room Aria was still awake, reading her book titled _Gears, Guys, and You._ She closed it when she noticed me, folding the corner of the page in order to keep her place. "How'd it go?"

"Complete success. Mrs. Corder and Mr. Dolesbury are making out on the roof."

"Oh, ew."

"We said the same thing."

"Did you get along with Josh?"

"Surprisingly, yes," I said, a small smile on my face. I started changing into my PJs.

"Oh. That's as cool as a Snover."

"Yeah," I replied, twisting my fist around, my line of sight following my knuckles. "I guess it is."


End file.
